Why the STAAR exam inspires bipartisan hate

Texas Democrats and Republicans don't agree on much these days, but they've found something they can hate with equal, bipartisan fervor: the 15 percent rule for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam.

The requirement, which mandates that 15 percent of a high school student's course grade should be based on his or her standardized test score, has been deferred twice and isn't set to go into effect until next school year. Nonetheless, the provision is so monumentally foolhardy that it unites people across the party divide.

It used to be that the primary opponents of high-stakes standardized tests in this state were progressives, who argued that the system put undue pressure on minority students in low-income school districts.

The 15 percent rule expanded the conversation. It activated suburban, middle-class parents, who worry that STAAR exam scores will screw up their kids' grade point averages and monkey with the college admission process.

Consider the range of voices speaking out against the 15 percent rule: San Antonio-based Democratic lawmakers Mike Villarreal and Leticia Van de Putte, who filed STAAR reform bills last week in the Texas House and Senate, respectively; the High School Republicans of Texas (HSRT); Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment, an independent, grass-roots group of concerned parents and community members; and Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

Villarreal bemoans the fact that Texas spends nearly half a billion dollars (10 times the amount allocated by the state of New York) to administer standardized tests, and he sees the 15 percent rule as the gateway to a broader, philosophical discussion on the objectives of public education.

“Prior to its adoption, there was a population that had not liked testing,” he said, “but it wasn't impacting their children's lives in an immediate and clear way.

“This rule helped crystallize all the problems that are inherent in our high-stakes testing system. Once parents started engaging in the debate on our overemphasis on testing, they got mobilized on a much broader agenda.”

Beyond the fundamental absurdity of mixing class grades with a one-size-fits-all test created by people who never set foot in your classroom, there is a basic logistical problem.

No one knows exactly how the test scores should be calculated into students' grades. If a 42 qualifies as a passing score on the STAAR exam, and a particular student gets that score, how will the teacher translate that result into the grading process? Will they use a scale that turns that score into a 70, give the student 100 percent credit for passing or record that raw test score in the grade book as a 42?

As of now, no uniform standard exists, and each school district has the discretion to apply a different scoring system. As a result, two students in different districts could get the same score on a STAAR exam and have it affect their GPAs in radically different ways.

Connor Pfeiffer, an Alamo Heights High School junior and the state chairman of HSRT, took a day off from school Wednesday to lobby GOP lawmakers on a host of issues, with the 15 percent rule near the top of his organization's priority list (behind only its opposition to RFID student-tracking tags).

“There's a ton of momentum to get it repealed,” Pfeiffer said. “I don't see any way that it doesn't get repealed during this session.”

Villarreal agrees but worries that the Lege may fix that one obvious glitch and stop there.

His legislation not only calls for the elimination of the 15 percent rule but also a reduction of the number of tests required for graduation — from 15 to four — and limits on the number of class days devoted to testing.

“The job of our teachers is much broader than getting their students to perform on a test over a limited number of subjects on one day of the year,” Villarreal said.

“Their job is to nurture the student in many subjects, and not just have them perform on a given day, but actually acquire a love for being intellectually challenged.”